Typical pathology lab reports describe, in words, a location of a biopsy sample (or other clinical finding or test result) and related information such a diagnosis and treatment. If two or more biopsies are taken on different calendar dates, separate lab reports are usually generated for each biopsy.
This is not desirable at least because a health professional is required sift through the text of the report, and sometimes the text of multiple reports, to become familiar with a patient's medical history. It also may be difficult for a report reader to conceptualize a special relationship among various diagnoses from different time periods and associated with different locations on a patient's body.
It is desirable, therefore, to provide systems and methods for displaying pathology or clinical data in an interactive format that allows a user to view, at a glance, multiple medical events for one or more patients. This is desirable at least because viewing medical data collected over time provides a quick, accurate and understandable perspective on the collected data.
For example, a typical pathology lab report may describe, in words, a location of a biopsy sample and related biopsy information such a diagnosis and treatment. If two or more biopsies are taken on different calendar dates, separate lab reports are usually generated for each biopsy.
It may be difficult for readers of the lab reports to correlate the text of the lab report to locations on a patient's body referred to in the lab report text. A reader of the lab report may misread or misunderstand text included in the lab report. A reader of the lab report may be unable to locate, on the patient's body, a location referred to in the text of the lab report.
It would be desirable to present medical information such as clinical findings, lab report or test results in a visual format. A visual format may allow a viewer of the visual report to easily conceptualize diagnoses and locations referenced in the medical information. For example, a visual report of laboratory diagnostic information may allow a viewer of the visual report to more easily associate contents (such as diagnoses) of the visual report to locations on a patient's body.
Additionally, a visual report may include an overlay, on a body part image, of historical lab reports associated with a patient over a period of time. A visual display of the historical lab reports may allow a viewer of the lab reports to quickly, accurately and easily understand a patient's clinical history.
Effective Apr. 7, 2014, a new federal ruling issued by the Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services (Federal Register Number: 2014-02280) now allows patients to access their test results directly from the laboratories in which their testing was performed. Current lab reports are not suited for the general public to understand quickly and accurately.
It is further desirable, therefore, to provide systems and methods for enabling patients, without prior medical training, to view their pathological history and diagnoses superimposed on a diagram that displays an image of a body part. This is desirable at least because such diagrams are easy to understand and allow patients to immediately verify that their biopsies were taken from the correct parts of their bodies, enhancing patient satisfaction and security. Visual display of medical information may also allow a viewer to see a spatial relationship among various diagnoses or clinical findings associated one or more body locations.